Survival School: Day 8
Jul 22, 2007, 11:18p - Life
Woke up late, cause of the craziness last night. Shorter hike today, from Green Lake to Twin Lakes - 800' up. Cliff & Abe led, Leland & I swept. Got off course to start, but recovered. Pack is getting lighter, cause we're eating more. Oats for breakfast, warm this time. It's nice to have a map [only leaders and sweepers get maps].
Green Lake, as seen from the trail up. We camped to the right side of it the night before.
Brits Nic & Rob, being British
Me, next to the puddle that is Green Lake
Self portrait on day 8
2nd self portrait on day 8
Only about 4 miles, plenty of light when we arrived. Sheep.
A herd of sheep running away from us
Caught up on writing, which was great. Some time for reflection. More mosquitoes. Ben traded flour for GORP w/ Pinky. Open pastures @ the top of Boulder Mtn. Twin Lakes. Most beautiful scenery so far, I think.
Beauty atop Boulder Mountain (one of my favorite photos from the trip)
Band o' brothers resting next to one of Twin Lakes: Crit, Ben, David, Rob, Leland, Nic, Abe, Pinky, Jeff, & Hannes (another favorite photo from the trip)
Usual dinner - Hannes is the best cook, his stuff tastes great, though he's not in my dinner group. Made 2 rounds of ash cakes after dinner, I just kept feeling hungry. Salt & pepper bread, so good. Setup a tent w/ our ponchos, Leland, Hannes & I. Nibbled on the cakes as I fell asleep, 1 nibble @ a time to make it last the longest I could. More talk in the tent about why we are here. H & L dissatisfied w/ lack of skills instruction - I still haven't gotten my fireset ready. I don't care about this as much. I'm here for 3 things: 1) rite of passage -> pride & confidence; 2) alternative lifestyle; 3) regainment of conscious awareness of experience. So far, I think this alternative lifestyle pretty much sucks, but I think I may be judging too quickly, so I'll reserve judgment for now. #1 is TBD, as is #3. I made dinner for my group tonight - it came out OK, not as good as Hannes', but better than previous nights. Lots of pepper & garlic - I'm going to so appreciate cooking when I get back. Before, I liked cooking but could never make the time, as other work seemed higher priority. I think that will change for the better when I get back. It's worth it to take the time to cook a good meal, to experiment w/ the foundation of pleasure, taste. Don't forget that. I think, in addition to perspective & confidence, there might be another benefit from this trip - being away for so long, being disconnected. So many things might have happened while I'm gone - Emily could get into med school, so many impt things may be happening to my family & Becca that I'm just missing. I'm waiting to open Becca's letter until Day 14, so it can get me over the hump. In a traumatic situation I seem to grasp back to the people I love & cling dearly, for my life & sanity. God.
Rained on as all night. Blanket's too thin, so shared w/ Leland. Slept more after the pounding stopped, had a couple of dreams which I don't remember.
[Written on day 8]
Read comments (1) - Comment
george
- Jun 10, 2008, 3:21p
you are a wise and insightful young man. Its a joy reading your journal, and knowing you already know why your there, so many struggle with that.
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